Is sadness a sickness? It appears to spread like one, a new study has found. Researchers at Harvard University and MIT wanted to see if a mathematical model developed to track and predict the spread of infectious diseases such as SARS and foot-and-mouth disease could also apply to the spread of happiness -- and found that it worked. They used data collected from 1,880 subjects in the Framingham Heart Study, a long-term research effort that has followed subjects since 1948 (and added some new ones along the way)

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that climate change and pandemic disease threatened international security as much as terrorism and that Britain must radically improve its defenses. Brown listed the greatest threats to Britain's peace as "war, terrorism and now climate change, disease and poverty -- threats which redefine national security." Officials estimate that a flu-type pandemic in Britain could cost as many as 750,000 lives, according to a report commissioned by Brown. It also says major coastal floods probably would result in a military evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.

Jeffrey Paga's college pals had big plans for the evening, and those plans didn't include hanging around the dorm room with their heads stuck in a book. But Paga, who had felt fine all day, suddenly wasn't in the mood to join them. He felt the flu coming on and figured he'd better stay in, take some over-the-counter medicine and hit the sack early.

A drug used in organ transplants appears of benefit in treating a debilitating bowel condition known as Crohn's disease when conventional therapy has failed, a group of Danish researchers report. "We conclude that cyclosporine has a beneficial therapeutic effect in patients with active Crohn's disease and resistance to or intolerance of corticosteroids," the synthetic hormones used in the conventional treatment, the scientists wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Scientists have unveiled a new human genetic map that fills in missing pages to explain how genes are involved in common diseases. The map looks at duplications and deletions of large DNA segments known as copy number variants, or CNVs. Scientists identified 1,447 CNVs that covered about 12% of the human genome. About 285 are associated with diseases such as schizophrenia, psoriasis, heart disease and congenital cataracts.

The most recent sewage spills in Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and other beach cities have greatly concerned me. But, odd as it may seem in these days of wars, terrorism and threats of same, one of the greatest dangers that confront us today is the possibility of disease and death that lie in the overflowing sewers that are being dumped into our ocean. The list of deadly diseases is an impressive one. Death and illness are frequently present when these diseases occur, such as: cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis and jaundice.

Scientists have linked two eye diseases to genetic defects in the powerhouses of cells, providing further evidence that damage to such genetic material may cause a variety of illnesses. Emory University researchers in Atlanta reported that they had confirmed that a previously identified flaw in the mitochondrial DNA of cells is to blame for Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy, a rare inherited disease that causes blindness. In the same issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, another scientific team last week linked damage to the same kind of genetic material to a disorder called progressive external ophthalmoplegia, which weakens eye muscles.

British agricultural authorities confirmed that an outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth livestock disease had jumped across the country as veterinarians detected cases in northwestern as well as southwestern England. The Ministry of Agriculture said fresh cases of the disease had been found on a farm in Beaworthy, Devon, in the southwest, the country's biggest livestock area.

May 21, 1990 | Times science writer Thomas H. Maugh II reports from the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held last week in Anaheim. and

Chlorine, which is normally used for sterilizing water used for drinking and in cooling systems, may not be effective against the microorganism that causes legionnaire's disease, according to Jeannine Navratil of the Pittsburgh Department of Water. The microorganism that causes the disease is much more resistant to chlorine than other water-borne pathogens and can colonize hot water reservoirs at the end of potable water systems, she reported.